A Rant on Meetings (and Some Tips to Get Your Focus Time Back)
If you do not have two hours of distraction-free focus time every workday, you have a problem to solve. Here is how to get time back on your calendar — whether you are an IC, a meeting owner, or a people manager.
😠 A rant on meetings. 😠
OK — and some tips too.
“I can’t get any work done because I’m in meetings all day.”
If you don’t have two hours of focus time every workday, you have a problem to solve.
Two hours at a minimum. Every day. During business hours. If you’re a leader, that’s probably enough; if you’re an IC you need more.
Important projects — the ones everyone will celebrate once complete, the ones key to your next promotion — require distraction-free thinking time.
If you don’t get solid focus time during working hours, this is what you’re probably doing instead
- 😳 You’re working during the brief moments in between meetings.
- 😳 You’re working during meetings.
- 😳 You’re sacrificing personal time, family time, and sleep.
That last one, for many, is a go-to solution. But is it a sustainable one?
Really?
Let me ask again. Really?
💡 I have suggestions. 💡
To get time back on your calendar
- 👉 Schedule focus time in advance. Mark it busy. Don’t be embarrassed — act like other people are crazy if they don’t.
- 👉 Decline meetings where your attendance won’t make a big difference. Give yourself permission and get comfortable saying no.
- 👉 Invoke the RACI framework. If you only need to be consulted, can you review and give your thoughts in an email? If you only need to be informed, ask to get copied on the meeting summary.
- 👉 If you’re a leader, delegate. Give someone a growth opportunity and ask them to attend instead.
- 👉 If you’re an IC, delegate without authority. Ask another attendee to represent your interests and catch you up offline.
- 👉 Be vocal in your team’s retrospective about the true cost of meetings.
- 👉 Ask your manager to review your calendar. Which meetings would they decline if they were you — and how would they communicate that to the meeting owner?
If you’re a meeting owner
- 👉 Apply RACI. Make more people optional.
- 👉 Hold a retrospective on your recurring meeting. Does everyone agree it’s more effective than an async alternative?
- 👉 Experiment with the duration, frequency, invite list, and agenda.
If you’re a people manager
- 👉 Protect your team’s focus time. Give people permission to block their calendar and say no. This is you being a force multiplier.
- 👉 Don’t fall for the no-meeting-day trap. You can’t enforce it, and one day without meetings makes other days meeting free-for-alls. You need a culture that works every day.
- 👉 Offer (don’t mandate) to audit people’s calendars if they’re drowning in meetings. Suggest which ones you’d decline, and advise how to tell the meeting owner.
- 👉 Check out reclaim.ai. It’s pretty amazing, and their free plan alone is valuable. I’m a happy user, not an affiliate.
Give people the gift of time. Cancel a meeting today.
